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Here I am again well over a year later, with 6 extra pounds. With summer already well on the way, and myself not getting out to run more than maybe once a week (that's even an optimistic figure), I've decided to crack back down.
I've noticed that with all my previous "diet" attempts, I never really had a plan of attack. I would simply "eat better" and exercise more frequently. I think that because I took the exercise portion so extreme and was more lenient with the diet part, I never saw results like I wanted. This in turn led to frustration and failure. I'm going to go with a different approach this time - not beating myself up, and focusing on what I eat much more.
I've recently read up on the slow-carb diet, set forth by Tim Ferris, and I'm going to follow it, without exception, for two weeks. This is enough time to see some results and if the diet works for me. If it seems to be getting results I'll keep it up, if not, I'll make a dietary shift. This means just about any form of meat, eggs, lots of legumes, and any vegetables (tomato in limited quantity). I can have as much of these as I'd like, with no strict eating patterns (x number meals per day at certain times, etc.), with the exception of breakfast within one hour of waking. No dairy, fruits, grains, or potato-like veggies. I can say after day 1, my body misses dairy, fruits, grains and potatoes. All of which were staples in my all encompassing previous diet. I suspect this will change over the coming couple of days as my body adjusts.
I haven't started with any exercise yet, but tomorrow I intend to at least go for a light jog, maybe some sprints, and then doing pushups to fail. This will be my Tuesday and Saturday routine. Something that I can do in a half an hour or less is what I'm shooting for. Mondays and Fridays I plan to do with exercises Tim has in his book; kettle-ball swings, extended range situps, and something called flying dog leg/arm raises...we'll see how graceful my tall self looks doing that. That's all, at least for a little bit. Once I can get myself into it, and sustain it, I may add more. The only other intentional physical activities I will partake in are morning stretches, swimming when the pool is open, and basketball.
I also plan to incorporate some thermal fat burning. I figure that this is the easiest way possible to burn calories. Make oneself cold, and lose some extra weight. The book "The 4 Hour Body" highlights a couple of minutes of cold water at the end of a shower, an icepack on the upper shoulders/neck area for 30 minutes each night, and once swimming is an option, some pool-time each day (probably more pool-time and fewer cold water showers; that was brutal this morning, and I don't foresee it continuing). Also, ice water upon waking.
Lastly I should point out some personal goals for this entire experience and lifestyle shift. I have a target weight in mind, but I'm not entirely obsessed with a final weight, I'm more concerned with an overall lowering of body fat percentage. Why beat myself up over muscle mass? So for this two week trial, I wouldn't mind seeing a number in the 240's pop up on the scale. I haven't flirted with anything lower than maybe 248ish in a long time.
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259.0 lb
Lost so far: 1.0 lb.
Still to go: 34.0 lb.
Diet followed N/A.
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gaining 0.1 lb a week
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